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Chorizo Debuts In MLB Sausage Race

It could have been wurst. On his first outing as the newest sausage at Miller Park, Chorizo didn't fall on his buns.

Wearing an oversized brown sombrero and a bright yellow shirt emblazoned with the number five, Chorizo became the fifth pork product to run the famed sausage race at the home of the Milwaukee Brewers.

He signed a contract with Brewers general manager Doug Melvin at a news conference at the stadium and then went for a run with the other sausages: Italian, bratwurst, Polish and hot dog.

Chorizo, who is also known as "El Picante" and "Cinco," will race for the first time during a game on Saturday. But that'll be the only time this year he runs in the Klement's Sausage races because of Major League rules regarding the introduction of mascots, said Rick Schlesinger, the team's executive vice president of business operations.

Chorizo will be put through the grind in the minor league, so he can get some extra seasoning before rejoining the other sausages next season, Melvin said. The team was given special permission to include Chorizo on Saturday, Schlesinger said, to coincide with its first celebration of Hispanic contributions to the sport. Brewers players will wear jerseys with the word "Cerveceros" on them, "Brewers" in Spanish.

Merchandise with Chorizo will be available starting next season, but fans who want to eat the spicy meat can already get it at the ballpark, he said.

The sausage race has been a staple of every home game since 2000, though the event began years before as animation. The sausages were propelled into the national limelight in 2003 when Pittsburgh Pirates player Randall Simon took a swat at the Italian sausage with a bat.

The addition of Chorizo comes after several years of receiving letters and e-mails asking for more sausages, especially some with a Latino flavor, Schlesinger said.

"Then it really, to use a food analogy, mushroomed to something much larger where we started to take it seriously," he said.

So they set to work designing a Chorizo that would evoke its ethnic origin, just as all the other sausages do. The Italian sausage dons a white chef's hat and the bratwurst has lederhosen, for example.

Hispanics should be proud of Chorizo, who has dark facial hair, a mustache that goes into a goatee, and a bright red neckerchief, said Maria Monreal-Cameron, president and chief executive officer of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Wisconsin.

"Some people say, 'What about stereotyping?' Hello. These are symbols of our culture," she said.

On the Brewers' Web site, profiles of the four other competitors are listed. Bratwurst is said to "train like a machine" while Italian is the "suave one of the bunch." Polish is considered the "underdog" and Hot Dog is praised for his simplicity.

As of July 27, Italian leads the overall standings with 19 wins, three more than Hot Dog.

Thursday's announcement celebrates the Hispanic community's emergence as baseball fans and players, she said.

"To me, it's wonderful. I think on all levels they have certainly hit a grand slam," Monreal-Cameron said.

Roger Klement, co-president of Klement's Sausage, said when he started working at his family's plant 30 years ago, the work force was largely European, so the sausages in the race were reflective of that. But that's not the case anymore, he said.

"Now when I walk into our plant, I see probably 45 percent to 50 percent of our employees are Hispanic and it's a great pleasure to bring the chorizo to life," he said.

Chorizo said in a statement read in both English and Spanish, that his dream has come true.

"I am very humbled to be in the presence of so many world-class wieners, but hopefully I can bring a little something new to the table, and Brewers fans will welcome me into their hearts and grills," he said.

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